The real dog Shiloh

Dear Ms. Naylor,
My name is Georgia and I am in 4th grade. My class just read your book and I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed the book because I love dogs as much as you do. I just got a puppy named Jett two weeks ago so it was really sad to read that Judd was so mean to Shiloh but in the end I was happy to know that Marty saved him.
I really liked your character, Marty. He was a nice boy. I think that I relate to Marty because I love dogs, want to save animals and we are almost the same age. My least favorite part of the book was when the german shepherd ripped apart Shiloh and they had to bring him to dr. Murphy. It made me want to cry. My favorite scene was at the end because Marty had to work really hard to get Shiloh. He made an agreement with Judd and had to work 20 hours to get $40 to buy Shiloh. I was surprised that Judd actually kept his word and gave Shiloh to Marty. I’m glad that your book had a happy ending but where did you get the idea from? Did you have a puppy when you were eleven? I hope that you did because my puppy makes me really happy. I loved your book and I can’t wait to read your other books.

In 1988 my husband and I were visiting friends in Shiloh, W Va, and that’s where we came upon a frightened, skinny, hungry dog.  I could never get her out of my mind so I wrote a book about her, but made her a male dog in the story .  I was so very happy when we later learned that our W. Virginia friends had taken her in and named her “Clover.”